


Rift

by Rinienne



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst and Humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Time, Genderswap, M/M, Romance, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-12
Packaged: 2017-12-08 05:19:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinienne/pseuds/Rinienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two worlds existing separately from each-other, so similar and so different at the same time. Two Shepards, male and female, fighting through endless weaves of enemies to save their worlds and everyone they care about. One rift in space and time connecting two realities. And a huge problem appearing after the Normandy passed so close to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It is set after the Priority: Ranoch, and before Priority: Thessia.  
> It is mostly about straight male Shepard turned into a woman and suddenly finding himself crushing on his very male friend. It will also have a bonus chapter about female Shepard, who is already in established relationship with Kaidan, turned into a man.

Shepard had never had problems with waking up early in the morning. It was a schedule he had used to follow since his eighteenth birthday, when he enlisted in the Alliance military. Years after, it became a routine followed even on weekends or holidays without any difficulty.

Shepard was also a morning person. It wasn't taking him longer than several minutes to wake up fully, even after only several hours of sleep.

That morning, although, was very different from the others. The alarm went off at the usual six hundred, but it took Shepard at least five minutes to open one of his eyes. The commander groaned reaching for the small clock on the nightstand to shut the annoying thing off before turning to another side, pulling the blanket over his head.

Shepard tried to get at least ten more minutes of sleep, but realized that he couldn't, because his entire body ached like he was sparring with a krogan barehanded the day before. He also felt like he had a worst case of hangover, but he didn't remember drinking anything last night either.

Cursing under his breath he climbed from the bed and padded to the bathroom, starting a shower. Thinking about the biggest mug of coffee he could find and a pill or two of aspirin, he reached for the shaving gel and a toothbrush, squeezing some of the gel on it. He spent an entire minute looking at his toothbrush, trying to understand what was wrong with it, before he cursed once again and dropped it into the sink.

Damn, what was wrong with him today? He hoped that he didn't catch a cold, because he simply didn't have time to lie around in bed while the galaxy was at war against the Reapers.

Sighing, Shepard squeezed some more shaving gel on his hand and started to spread it over his face, humming suddenly in surprise of how smooth his face felt. Intrigued he raised his glance to the mirror.

Every last bit of sleep he had disappeared as he saw the face looking at him from the reflection. The person on the other side looked nothing like him: his usually blue eyes were now bright-green, the buzz-cut he wore disappeared, replaced by a shoulder-long red hair and the skin on his face was now sprinkled with freckles. Oh, and another detail which was impossible to miss - he was now a woman.

"What the hell!" He hiccupped jumping away from the mirror like it was a husk ready to tear him apart.

Breathing heavily he started to grope his own body just in case it was some sort of illusion. Perhaps EDI programmed a hologram over his mirror, trying to make a joke. But no, the body under his palm was most definitely feminine, with a slim waist and nice rounded breasts and... Shepard gulped reaching into his boxer briefs, which he only now noticed to be too big for his hips. The commander wasn't sure what he expected to find. The last bit of logic left in his head was telling him, that considering the state of his other body parts, he wasn't going to find anything at all. The reality of not having a dick on the other hand was shocking anyway.

No, that couldn't be true, Shepard thought that he was probably still asleep and having a nightmare of some sort. Any moment he was going to wake up and...

"Shepard, are you all right?" EDI's voice sounded through the intercom. "I'm receiving unusual readings from you. Your hormonal levels seem to be very strange and you also appear to be in a condition of extreme stress."

"No kidding!" Shepard replied, freaking out the next moment of how unfamiliar his new voice sounded.

For a moment, which felt like an eternity, EDI was silent, "You're a woman." the AI stated finally, nearly making the commander to burst into laughing.

Actually, scratch that. It in fact made the commander to burst into a laugh - a hysterical one.

***

Kaidan exited the bathroom of the crew deck, dressed into the uniform trousers without the pocket belt and a black sleeveless undershirt. A white fluffy towel was draped over his still wet hair, which he was drying with one of his hand while walking down the corridor.

The elevator door suddenly opened and a very attractive woman, whom he had never seen before, stomped out of it nearly slamming into the biotic. Without even stopping, she mumbled something which sounded like 'sorry' and continued her way towards the crew quartiers, leaving the major to stay in the hallway with an open mouth.

There was something really off with this woman, and it wasn't even the fact that currently the Normandy was in a middle of nowhere in space, making it impossible for anyone to board undetected. Kaidan blinked, realizing that the thing disturbed him the most was the clothes she was wearing. It was the alliance regulation trousers, which seemed way too big for her slim body and an N7 hoodie which also looked like a potato bag because of the same exact reason. And that was all Shepard's clothes.

Did the commander bring her on board?

Suddenly every single cell in Kaidan's body started to burn with jealousy, making his chest hurt. Kaidan tried to suppress the feeling, understanding that he didn't have the right to be jealous, as it was his own fault that he didn't have guts to confess his affection back at the dinner he invated Shepard to. The commander didn't belong to him and could sleep with whoever the heck he wanted.

Bringing her here, on another hand, was something he didn't expect from Shepard, not to mention it was against at least dozens of regulations. As the second in command, Kaidan decided to have a serious conversation with Shepard about inappropriate behavior.

And she had already been walking around the ship in his clothes. How close exactly they were?

The woman meanwhile stopped in front of the crew quarters, took a deep breath and stepped in. Curious, Kaidan followed her, pondering what she needed in there.

Ignoring the surprised glances of few people who haven't yet left to their posts, she started to look around, before stopping her gaze on Specialist Traynor who was sitting on the bed with a small mirror in one hand and mascara in the other, finishing her make-up.

The woman walked to the specialist, starting to visibly appraise her from tip to toe.

"Excuse me, but do I know you?" Traynor smiled a bit confused.

"You look like the same size as I am." The strange woman blurt out. "Can you lend me a spare uniform, please?"

"What?" the specialist surprised.

Kaidan realized that he couldn't just stand there listening any longer. He walked towards the woman, "wait a second," he said, "just who exactly are you?"

The woman turned to the biotic, looking extremely annoyed. "It's me," she replied, "Shepard!"

***

Perhaps, the situation in which Shepard found himself next was his own fault. He should've known better than walk down the crew deck without warning anyone on the ship about his strange condition.

The commander had seen Kaidan performing on the battlefield too many times to count. He saw him going hand to hand with husks, Cerberus troops and even geth. That is why, when Shepard was tugged out of the crew quarters and pressed against the nearest wall, watching the biotic energy bursting around the major, he knew that Kaidan was holding back, trying not to actually injure him.

"Ok, and now you're going to talk!" Kaidan groaned angrily. "Who are you and where is the commander?"

"I told you just now!" Shepard replied looking right into the biotic's eyes, "I am the commander!"

"Right," Kaidan shook his head, "and I'm the third president of the Systems Alliance."

"Well, I'm glad that you're not, ‘cause you would make a shitty president," Shepard laughed, ignoring the biotic fists which pressed even harder into his collarbones.

Several other people walked to the crew deck corridor hearing the commotion and now were gathering around, looking at the scene with curiosity and confusion.

"By the goddess, what is going on here?" Liara exhaled seeing them.

"Found her wandering around the ship," Kaidan explained, "pretending to be Commander Shepard."

"I'm not pretending to be anyone!" Shepard protested. "EDI, help me out here, you said you were monitoring me."

"I monitor the vital signs of every crew member on the ship." EDI confirmed, "The information comes to me from your omni-tools… which can be removed and placed on other people's hands."

"Very helpful, EDI," Shepard rolled his eyes, "thanks."

The commander looked around. He had to find a way to prove that he was really the person he claimed to be and do it right. Simply retelling his biography wouldn't help, because it was the information anyone could find on the extranet.

"Liara," he started softly, "remember a few months back you came into my quarters? You brought this little memory box with every bit of information about this cycle you could collect. You also asked for my advice about what you should write about me."

The asari looked at the commander surprised, then she nodded.

"And you, Traynor," he turned to the communication specialist, "you have a toothbrush, Scission Pro Mark 4. It is not the same exact toothbrush you had when I met you, because the one you had was broken when the clone of mine tried to steal the Normandy."

"And you Kaidan..." Shepard finally looked at the person holding him against the wall. "Remember that time, back on the SR1, when you told me about Jump Zero? You know what surprised me the most about it? That after everything happened there you've never started hate members of other races. It struck me at the time, impressed me."

Shepard saw the biotic energy around the major fade and his grip eased. Kaidan still looked very confused, but he nodded and released the commander.

"What..." Kaidan exhaled, "...what the hell happened?"

***

Shepard was sitting in the mess hall, holding a cup of fresh brewed coffee. He would really preferred something stronger, considering everything happened to him this morning, but after the initial shock faded, he realized that his body still felt like someone was using it as a punching bag the entire night. Plus Doctor Chakwas, who had been examining him for a good half of the morning, strongly advised against it.

Vega walked to the table and placed a plate with eggs and toasts in front of the commander. "This one's on the house," he said.

Shepard looked at the eggs feeling slightly nauseous. "I'm not hungry," he sighed.

"Like hell you're not." Kaidan, who was sitting in front of the commander, on the opposite side of the table, argued, "you went to you quarters without a dinner, so eat at least your breakfast."

Shepard placed the coffee cup back on the table and picked a fork, glaring at the biotic and wondering at the same time, how Kaidan knew that he forgot to eat last night, buried under a pile of reports. Was the major spying on him?

"You're not fussing around me, 'cause I was turned into a woman, are you?" Shepard asked.

"No," Vega shook his head, "we are fussing around you, 'cause you look like shit."

"Well, at least you're honest." Shepard managed a chuckle.

***

The rest of the morning turned into an absolute disaster. The rumors were flying around the ship faster than a ship could jump through a Mass Relay. Every member of Shepard's crew made it a personal priority to check on the current state of their commanding officer.

"At least most of them are smart enough not to make fun," Garrus commented. "Could you please hand me that spanner from the table?"

The turian was lying on the floor under the Normandy's left canon. The canon itself had had a chance to fire only twice since the last time Garrus calibrated it, but the turian liked to be thorough when it came to guns.

Shepard picked the wrench key and passed it to his friend, "yeah, I still feel like a circus freak, whenever someone looks at me, like they see me for the first time."

"Well, to tell the truth they are seeing you for the first time." Garrus chuckled.

"I get it," Shepard agreed. "Damn, I surprised Allers still didn't came stomping to me for an interview."

"Anyway, any ideas what could have cause it?" The turian asked.

"Liara is studying some strange readings from the nebula we were passing last night, to see if she could make any sense of it," Shepard sighed, "but nothing yet."

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by EDI: "commander," she announced, "Admiral Hackett is trying to contact you. He is available on the vid comm."

Shepard was already turning on his heel to head to the communication hub, but suddenly remembered about his predicament. The entire morning he spent trying to contemplate what happened to him and how to return everything back.  He didn't really had time to think about what could happen if the people outside the Normandy find out about it. Would they believe? Would Admiral Hackett believe him, or would he decide that Shepard was an imposter, trying to fool everyone around?

"What am I going to do?" Shepard asked the turian slightly panicked.

"The only thing you can," Garrus replied climbing from under the gun, walking to the commander and placing his hand on Shepard's shoulder, "tell the truth."

***

Admiral Hackett was looking at the commander appraisingly for at least a whole minute, but for Shepard it felt like they stood there for hours just looking at each-other. Under his gaze the commander felt even smaller and more miserable than earlier.

"This is quite an extraordinary situation," Hackett finally said.

"This is quite an understatement, sir." Shepard agreed.

"Liara, are you quite sure that this is really Commander Shepard?" the admiral addressed to the asari who was standing next to Shepard with a data-pad in her hand.

"Yes," she nodded, "I melded our consciousness earlier, and I can guarantee that it is really him."

"Any speculations on how this could’ve happened?" Hacked inquired.

"A theory," Liara replied activating her omni-tool. Several holographic charts appeared in front of the admiral. "According to the readings of the nebula, there was something like a  wormhole we passed last night," she started to explain. "EDI noticed a signature of another vessel at around two hundred hours, at the exact same location as us, but she decided it to be a malfunction in the system, because the vessel was there for less than a second, before disappearing without a trace."

"And what sort of vessel it was?" Hacked asked.

"This is when things take a very strange turn," the asari replied, pressing a button on the omni-tool. The holographic charts blinked replaced with the information of the vessel they encountered. The specification on the ship were so familiar, that Shepard was absolutely sure it was some sort of a mistake. It just couldn't be true.

"It is... the Normandy." Hackett stated.

"Yes, it appears that just for a second, passing next to this rift, we encountered ourselves." Liara nodded.

"Is it even possible?" Shepard surprised.

Liara closed the projection on the holographic screen and sighed. "I need to admit, that it sounds like something truly unreal," she said, "but the only reasonable explanation I could come up with, is that the rift was leading into another dimension, a parallel world, if it make any sense. Perhaps, there is a reality, separated from ours, where everything is absolutely the same, but some minor details."

"So, you mean to say, there is a parallel world, where everything is same, but I'm a woman?" Shepard raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, and somehow, the fact that both of the Normandy ships appeared at the same exact place, at the same exact time, next to this rift, caused both Shepards to switch bodies." Liara confirmed.

"I need to admit, that sounds like a very classical science fiction story," Hackett said, "but if it is the only explanation, we have to work with it. Any ideas of how to return the commander to his original state?"

"Yes," Liara replied, "I used my Shadow Broker resources to find out about every ship traveling through this nebula. As it turned out, many of the ships encountered the rift activities, but it is the first time the encounter caused something so drastic. The information was very useful, as I was able to find the time and dates of the rift opening. According to my calculation, it always opens at the exact same time, every two weeks."

"So, you think if you will return to the nebula in two weeks, you will be able to return everything to normal?" The admiral asked.

"Yes, I believe so."

Hackett nodded, then turned to Shepard again. "You, meanwhile, will need to make sure no-one else will find out about your situation. It can cause some serious problems."

"But sir," Shepard protested, "I need to head to Thessia to retrieve the artifact, Counselor Tevos told me about."

"And how exactly are you going to do it? Arrive to the planet and tell everyone, that Commander Shepard is busy and you came instead? Plus the Crucible is still weeks away from completion and the knowledge of the catalyst isn't going to speed up its construction." Hackett insisted. "Also, I'm ordering you to stay away from the missions of the N7 department. I will find other people to send there."

"With all due respect, sir, even if I can't show up in public as Commander Shepard, I still capable of holding a gun."

"I'm pretty sure you are, Shepard," the admiral agreed, "and I'm sure that if you were born a woman, you would achieve the same exact position, rank and respect as you currently have. But you were not born a woman, and we don't know what other affects the change of your body caused. We can't risk it."

"Understood, sir," Sheared sighed.

"Good." the admiral nodded, "Hackett out."

The image of the admiral disappeared from the view leaving Shepard and Liara alone in the communication hub. Two weeks. Shepard would be stuck in a female body for two weeks. What was he going to do?

 


	2. Chapter 2

Kaidan wandered about the ship with no particular purpose. All of his Alliance reports were finished and he had nothing new on the Specter side to write about either, so the rest of the day he spent doing nothing and feeling particularly bored about it.

Kaidan was also worried about Shepard. The commander spent the entire day locked in his quarters, not showing up neither for lunch nor for dinner, making the major slightly angry that this man was so disrespectful towards own health. But, perhaps, it was only his biotic set of mind speaking.

When the day turned into evening, Kaidan couldn't resist any longer. He had already had one dinner around an hour earlier, but he didn't mind having a second one. The biotic opened the refrigerator, trying to find something to cook.

There was frozen meat in the freezer, which looked like some sort of exotic bird, but most likely was just chicken frozen for way too long. In any case, it was the only real meat they had, so Kaidan took it, placing into the microwave to defrost.

A search of drawers around the kitchen revealed a big bag of rice and a big bag of dried potato flakes - the one you only needed to mix with water to prepare mashed potato and tasted nothing like the real thing. So rice it was.

At least they had a good variety of spices and actual garlic to work with, but still it would be better if they had an access to other fresh vegetables, not those frozen packs.

Kaidan shook his head, understanding that he was really turning the preparation of this dinner into a problem. It wasn't the first time he cooked for Shepard, but he was afraid that if he would overdo it, it might start looking suspicious.

But on another hand, if maybe he stopped worrying too much about little things, his life would become easier?

"Hey, Kaidan, what are you up to?" He suddenly heard Cortez's voice. Raising his eyes up he also could now see the shuttle pilot himself entering the mess hall.

"Nothing much," Kaidan sighed, "just decided to have a second dinner."

"Isn't it a bit too much for one person," Cortez raised an eyebrow, looking at the pot with boiling rice.

"I... I have an appetite, you know, I'm still a biotic."

It was a lie and Kaidan perfectly knew that he was a terrible liar, because only a moment after he said it, he started to feel the skin of his neck and cheeks heating up. And by the look in the lieutenant's eyes, he noticed it.

"Ohh..." he said.

Kaidan waited a few moments, stirring the rice and flipping the chicken on the pan, expecting the pilot to say anything else. But the man was silent.

"Just 'oh'?" Kaidan hummed.

Cortez walked to the water fountain, filling a cup and taking a sip from it. "Do you expect me to give you a relationship advice?" He asked.

"No, not really," Kaidan confessed.

The flight lieutenant nodded, finishing his water and throwing the plastic cup into the trash can. "You are aware that he'll return to being a man in two weeks, right?" He suddenly asked.

"I am…" the biotic nodded. It officially was turning into a one of the most awkward conversations he had ever had. Especially considering that Cortez had an eye on Shepard himself, and Kaidan could see it clear as day.

"I see..." Cortez nodded, "good luck then."

"Umm, thanks," Kaidan smiled awkwardly, watching the shuttle pilot to turning around and walking out the mess hall.

Right before Cortez disappeared behind the corner he turned and looked at the biotic again. "I mean it, Kaidan, good luck." He said seriously.

The major blinking, not expecting it, "thank you, Steve," he nodded.

***

The light on the door leading into Shepard's quarters was green, for which Kaidan was truly thankful. At least he didn't come up here with two plates of rice and chicken to have to turn around.

Shepard was sitting behind his working desk, working on his personal terminal. It still was surreal to see him as a woman, but the biotic suppressed the weird feelings, walking to his commander.

"Hey, Shepard, I brought you dinner." He called.

The commander turned his head, looking startled for a moment. "Wow, didn't hear you entering," he confessed.

"Come on, you're working too hard, even while given an extra vacation time." The biotic chuckled moving further into the quarters and placing the plates on the table.

"Hey, if I complimented your cooking skills once, it doesn't mean you now have to do it all the time." Shepard chuckled, following the major.

"Hey, it was just a cold calculus," Kaidan smirked, "I know you have some beer in your mini-fridge."

"Yeah, and here I though you really cared about me." Shepard grinned shaking his head, before heading to a small fridge and grabbing two bottles of lager.

Kaidan felt his heart dropping in his chest, hearing those words. He wasn't sure how was he supposed to react, didn't know if it was one of Shepard's usual jokes he heard the man saying to many crew members, or there was more to it. Kaidan started to ponder if he could use this moment to bring up the subject.

"Thanks, by the way," Shepard said disturbing the biotic's line of thoughts, and ruining the moment the major could use. "I really forgot to eat again - was too busy looking through Hackett's new assignments."

"Assignments?" Kaidan surprised, "I thought he gave you a vacation."

"Nah, the Normandy is too important as an asset to just leave her with no work for two weeks," the commander explained, opening the beer and offering one of the bottles to the biotic, "it's sort of milk runs. Grab something from point A and deliver to point B, check on malfunctioning communication buoy - that sort of job."

Shepard took a sit next to Kaidan, picking his fork and started to munch on his meal. The biotic noticed that his commander now looked even more tired than in the morning.

"How are you, yourself?" Kaidan asked.

Shepard stopped chewing giving the biotic a skeptical look. Then he sighed in defeat.

"Like shit, honestly," he admitted, "you know, not every day you wake up with boobs."

Kaidan's eyes unintentionally slid onto Shepard's breast. Right now he was wearing a more fitting uniform, which Specialist Traynor lended him. They were really nearly the same size, but Shepard's breast was slightly bigger, making the uniform to look especially tight around it. The biotic realized that it was very inappropriate to stare like that and hurried to look away.

"And every visit to the bathroom is like a torture, but honestly, it's not the problem. The problem is that I was grounded yet again." He started to speak faster, and his new feminine voice started to sound rougher. "And what if it will be impossible to change back? what if I'm stuck in this body forever? Damn, you know, it also feels everything different, like every frigging emotion is multiplied by hundred. I feel like I'm a hair away from actually crying..." he paused, "well, shit, I think I am actually crying." Shepard groaned, reaching to his face to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

"Hey, hey!" Kaidan whispered gently, wrapping his arm around Shepard's smaller shoulders. He honestly didn't plan it, it was some sort of a body reaction. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure that Liara is right. In two weeks you're going to return back to normal and forget it like a bad dream," he reassured.

Shepard sighed deeply and leaned into Kaidan's shoulder, making the biotic stop still, realizing what was happening. The heart in his chest started to beat faster.

For a moment Shepard was silent, weeping quietly into his shoulder. Then he suddenly tensed in Kaidan's arms.

"Ugh, sorry," he said, hurrying to move away from the biotic's reach. "Damn, that was stupid... I didn't mean to..."

"It's ok, Shepard." Kaidan reassured.

"Right, yeah, dinner," the commander nodded, returning to his plate and started to stuff the food into his mouth without any visible attempt to enjoy it, like he was only trying to finish it as soon as it was only possible. Kaidan also saw that his face was flushed.

Sighing and feeling like an idiot, he returned his attention to his own meal.

"You know what else annoys me?" Shepard suddenly asked. "Hair. They are just impossible. Keep going into my eyes, my mouth." He tried to move the hair away, to fix them behind the ears, but they didn't stay there falling onto the commander's face again.

"Well, at least they are not curling and you don't experience problems with static electricity at the same time," Kaidan chuckled.

"Hey, maybe I just need to cut them? I mean Jack didn't look bad with a buzz-cut."

Kaidan tried to imagine Shepard's current body with a hairstyle he used to have as a man. It didn't really seem to be a good idea. Suddenly he remembered that he had a hair-tie somewhere in his pockets, buried among a bunch of other 'I might need it one day' crap.

"I have a better idea," he smiled with a triumph, starting to search his pockets. "aha!" he announced when he was finally able to find it, "here, use this," he proposed passing the small black band to Shepard.

"You carry a hair-tie in your pocket?" Shepard raised an eyebrow amused.

"Well, you never know when you might need one," Kaidan smiled, "although the idea was to use it in a situation where a piece of gun fell down in the middle of the combat, and I needed to quickly fix it."

"Look at you, Alenko," Shepard chuckled, "always prepared."

***

Next morning Shepard felt way better. The ache in the body was now gone and he felt really refreshed after a good night sleep.

Shepard stretched on his bed looking in the observation port on his ceiling, watching the endless rows of start slowly passing by. He wondered how many more unknown there was in the universe. Like the rift in space, leading to another dimension which caused him to switch bodies with his female self. She probably was now stuck in his own body, freaking out about it, like Shepard did.

The events of the previous evening suddenly started to catch up with him, making him feel absolutely embarrassed. What did happen to him, that made him forget about everything and weep shamelessly on his best friend's shoulder? How would he ever be able to look into Kaidan's eyes again after that?

But on another hand it was nearly worth it, because the feeling of Kaidan's strong body pressed to his was really pleasant, the man also smelt really nice. And it definitely made Kaidan's face flush, making him look so adorable.

Shepard was up on his feet in a second, standing above his bed and looking at it, like it personally was responsible for the change happened to him, breathing heavy. Where did this line of thought come from? Did only one day spent in female body started to turn him into gay?

Shepard wasn't homophobic, not at all. He knew many homosexual people in past, whom he considered to be very good friends. In fact he was aware of three men on board of the Normandy, who preferred other men and one of them was his great friend whom he could trust even with his life. It was just him, Commander Shepard, who had never considered a romantic relationship with someone of the same gender before.

But on the other hand, they in fact were of different genders right now.

Damn, he really needed to stop thinking about it. In two weeks he was going to change back and he highly doubted that Kaidan himself would be interested in anything but a friendship with another man. He was sure the biotic was straight - he knew about some of his past, about Rahna. Even yesterday, he couldn't miss how Kaidan's eyes slid to his breast. And it was understandable, if it was Kaidan turned into a chick, he would stare at his breast too.

Groaning at himself, Shepard moved to the bathroom. He really needed a shower, preferably a cold one.

***

"Are you feeling all right, commander?" Traynor inquired when Shepard appeared in the CIC.

Shepard leaned on the rail before the galaxy map, sighing heavily. He wasn't really ok. And it wasn't connected with his initial shock of finding himself in a female body, and it wasn't connected with his sudden thoughts about Kaidan earlier this morning, and not even with the fact Hackett grounded him. The problem he had was so trivial, that it was pathetic, but at the same time it was definitely not something he could talk easily about.

After the entire previous day, he spent in the uniform worn on the bare body, he ended up with an incredible itch around his nipples. Today, only after several hours of wearing it, it started to become painful. Shepard really needed something to wear under it, but no way could he figure it out on his own.

"Feeling mostly ok," Shepard replied, setting the course on the Citadel as they needed to pick some supplies to deliver them to Tuchanka, "although I have a little problem," he confessed feeling as the torturous blush was creeping over his face again. He really needed to learn how to control it somehow, because he had never noticed other female members of his crew having this problem. Perhaps they knew a secret of some sort?

"And what is it?" Traynor asked.

"Ugh..." Shepard looked around to make sure no-one was in range to hear them. "I need to buy a bra," he finally said, "but I don't know a thing about it."

The specialist's smile turned into a full grin, which made the commander suddenly feel like he was in some sort of danger. "Oh, so you want me to take you on a shopping trip?" She concluded sounding way to excited.

***

The rest of the day they spent traveling to the Citadel went without incidents. He hadn't seen Kaidan a single time, for what he was honestly thankful, because seeing the biotic after last night and his morning's thoughts would be the last thing Shepard wanted.

They arrived to their destination at about eighteen hundred earthen time, but there wasn't a distinguishing way to determine the time on the Citadel itself besides looking at the clock, because there wasn't any change in the lighting. Plus every store was open twenty citadelian hours a day every day of the week.

Traynor tugged Shepard out of the ship and straight into a cab to presidium, the self-content grin had never left her face the entire time.

"Alright, here we are!" Traynor exclaimed as they stood in front of a large store with dozens of mannequins dressed in nothing but lingerie exposed in the window.

Suddenly, Shepard felt even less certain about this idea.

Inside the store the commander was starting to feel himself like creep among dozens of different sections filled with women underwear. There were items to satisfy any kind of customers, starting with plane and simple black or white sport models, ending with something which reminded a few strings sewed together. Shepard wondered why would anyone in the right mind pay over five hundred credits for this little fabric.

It helped him seeing other men shopping in the store, so at least no-one would start sending him weird glances. Then Shepard suddenly realized that no-one would look weird at him anyway, as he remembered that right now he didn't look like a man whatsoever.

The first Shepard's instinct was to go to the most simple sport section, to buy something cheap and in bulk.

"Oh, no, you're not going there," Traynor stopped him, "wearing something like that," she pointed to a most simple white bra, "with your body is like a crime!"

With those words Traynor tugged the commander to a section which contained 'better' underwear, and Shepard had to agree with his communication specialist on that, because it was sort of underwear he would prefer to see on women himself - elegant, revealing, but not slutty.

"Alright, you seem to me like a good 70-75 C* so, go ahead, pick anything you like!" Traynor encouraged.

Shepard started to look through the underwear sets, feeling really uneasy. He had no idea what he supposed to choose and Traynor wasn't much of a help. But on another hand, he didn't exactly expect her to pick something for him, even if he was sure she could.

After about fifteen minutes of taking some of the items from the shelf and placing them back, Shepard decided to try another approach, starting to think what underwear he would like to see on his lover. It did help a lot, as in the next ten minutes he was able to pick five different sets.

Suddenly his eyes stopped on something in particular. It was a very nice looking set of bra and panties of deep indigo color. He picked it from the shelf, moving his finger over its surface. It really felt good on the touch, made of smooth silk and decorated with embroidery patterns. Two thin atlas ribbons of light-beige, nearly white color were going through the pattern closer to the edge of the cups.

It also somewhat reminded him of Kaidan's armor and suddenly Shepard started to think what the biotic would think about it. Would he like to see it on a woman, would he like to see it on him?

His imagination started to summon images of Kaidan taking his clothes off, then suddenly seeing this underwear; his eyes surprised but shining with lust. Then his hands reaching to touch it, couping Shepard’s breasts. That would probably feel really good.

"Oh, I think we have a winner." Traynor announced watching Shepard examining the bra.

"What?" Shepard snapped back into reality. "No, no way!" He groaned embarrassed, shoving the stupid thing back where he found it.

"Really?" the specialist surprised, "I think it looked really nice..." she picked it to examine herself, "kinda looks like... oh..." The specialist turned back to Shepard, suddenly eyeing him with surprise. "No, no way..." she shook her head in disbelief.

"Traynor, drop it." Shepard warned turning around and walking to the fitting rooms with the five sets he picked earlier.

***

Shepard could never imagine that it would take over three hours for shopping. And it took so long not because he was actually enjoying it, but because he needed so many things. After finishing with underwear, Traynor took him to a clothes store, to buy at least one set of casual appeal, where Shepard ended with a pair of tight jeans and two simple gray tee-shirts.

But they weren't done after that either. It turned out Shepard also needed a new razor, a pack of panty liners, a hair conditioner, a washing lotion for face, a cream to use after this lotion, some more hair ties and hair clippers to keep the hair away from the face and a bunch of other little things Shepard couldn't see a point in.

Exhausted, the commander returned to his apartment dropping the shopping bags on the bed in the master bedroom, before climbing there himself. He needed to unpack those bags, but he simply didn't want to move a single inch. Still, he reached for the bag with the underwear, taking out the set laying on the very top. It was the indigo colored one, with small creamy-white ribbons which felt so nice under his fingers.

Sighing, Shepard shoved it back into the bag with two other sets he bought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The world of Mass Effect uses metric system.


End file.
